Well, that wraps up the Google Project. I have successfully investigated how the brain processes and perceives music. From my research on the auditory cortex to the function of the frontal lobe in music, I have discovered quite a bit. Moreover, since I have never previously took time to learn about the anatomy of the brain, this has been quite an introduction.
I have also found music's similarities to language, both in terms of mechanics and mental perception. Interestingly, music can also affect one's hormonal balance and mood, as well as stress. All of these effects are caused by music, something I have practiced for years but never fully understood from this perspective. Therefore, my first "scientific" look at music has been a significant and noteworthy investigation, and I hope to continue this work in the future!
A brief Powerpoint presentation I gave to the Wind Ensemble class can be viewed at https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dcz83dhk_4fjtxjfcq. Happy viewing!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Last Day
Well, this has been quite the journey for me.
Though I haven't posted in a few weeks, I have made substantial progress in learning more about our brain and how it sees music. For example, I've learned how different kinds of music can change our patterns of hormone release. It is scientifically proven that music can prevent the release of cortisol, a hormone produced in response to stress. Thus, music is indeed a great way to lower one's stress.
However, everything must be taken, as they say, with "a grain of salt." Actually, fast music can actually make one feel more stressed out, while slower music has a more relaxing effect. Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict an individual's response to any kind of music because every person is different. How their brains react is heavily dependent on their previous experiences.
Again, I also learned more about how music stimulates neural pathways in other parts of the brain. In short, it trains the brain to think. Since it "exercises" many critical thinking areas of the brain in the frontal lobe, people who experience music, especially through playing it, have better reasoning abilities. This is because even though they might not seem like they're working their critical thinking areas, music is in fact training them and making them more effective. So, if you want to get better at math, it might actually be a good idea to pursue music. Music uses so many parts of the brain that it is like an all-around workout.
Having learned all of these things, I shall present my findings to the Wind Ensemble class tomorrow at Lake Oswego High School. Since it is our first year pursuing this "Google project," I hope that I will be able to learn many things tomorrow. Of course, I was one of the few to choose a more scholarly approach to this project-again, where a person chooses what they want to investigate on their own time. Other people have chosen to use music to stimulate their curiosities (thereby strengthening neural pathways and furthering their intelligence!) by composing and arranging music. It will be interesting to see their products. Hopefully, next year we can repeat this project, as I feel it has been highly successful. Until then, may music touch you and change the way you think!
Though I haven't posted in a few weeks, I have made substantial progress in learning more about our brain and how it sees music. For example, I've learned how different kinds of music can change our patterns of hormone release. It is scientifically proven that music can prevent the release of cortisol, a hormone produced in response to stress. Thus, music is indeed a great way to lower one's stress.
However, everything must be taken, as they say, with "a grain of salt." Actually, fast music can actually make one feel more stressed out, while slower music has a more relaxing effect. Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict an individual's response to any kind of music because every person is different. How their brains react is heavily dependent on their previous experiences.
Again, I also learned more about how music stimulates neural pathways in other parts of the brain. In short, it trains the brain to think. Since it "exercises" many critical thinking areas of the brain in the frontal lobe, people who experience music, especially through playing it, have better reasoning abilities. This is because even though they might not seem like they're working their critical thinking areas, music is in fact training them and making them more effective. So, if you want to get better at math, it might actually be a good idea to pursue music. Music uses so many parts of the brain that it is like an all-around workout.
Having learned all of these things, I shall present my findings to the Wind Ensemble class tomorrow at Lake Oswego High School. Since it is our first year pursuing this "Google project," I hope that I will be able to learn many things tomorrow. Of course, I was one of the few to choose a more scholarly approach to this project-again, where a person chooses what they want to investigate on their own time. Other people have chosen to use music to stimulate their curiosities (thereby strengthening neural pathways and furthering their intelligence!) by composing and arranging music. It will be interesting to see their products. Hopefully, next year we can repeat this project, as I feel it has been highly successful. Until then, may music touch you and change the way you think!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Fascinating!
I've learned that music can change one's perception of time. While real time passes by us at the same rate it always does, music (specifically its speed and inflection) can affect the left side of the brain, which is responsible for what is called "experimental time." The left side of our brain is the analytical side. Music can affect this part of our brain to "count" our own perception of time differently. Thus, slow music can make time go by slower for us - and make us feel sleepy - while faster music gives us the impression that time has flown by.
Fascinating!
I'm still struggling to get through all the information I've found, but I am making steady progress in understanding it. Perhaps my experience with music is helping me understand this information? That will be seen...
Fascinating!
I'm still struggling to get through all the information I've found, but I am making steady progress in understanding it. Perhaps my experience with music is helping me understand this information? That will be seen...
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Some Free Time to Research
I've found some time over this long weekend to put some more work into my research.
Contrary to popular belief, music is processed in both sides of the brain. Yes, the left side processes the intensity and frequency of music while the right handles pitch, melody, and harmony, but the auditory cortex as a whole perceives rhythm. Actually, the frontal cortex (responsible for critical thinking, and incidentally, making us responsible for our own actions) is involved in rhythms as well. So rhythms really are a complex aspect of music, and our brain has to use different parts to be able to understand them - as opposed to how only a single area of the brain is focused on perceiving simple musical tones.
Contrary to popular belief, music is processed in both sides of the brain. Yes, the left side processes the intensity and frequency of music while the right handles pitch, melody, and harmony, but the auditory cortex as a whole perceives rhythm. Actually, the frontal cortex (responsible for critical thinking, and incidentally, making us responsible for our own actions) is involved in rhythms as well. So rhythms really are a complex aspect of music, and our brain has to use different parts to be able to understand them - as opposed to how only a single area of the brain is focused on perceiving simple musical tones.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Fourth Day: Primary Auditory Cortex
Today I investigated the primary auditory cortex. From several medical encyclopedias I've found online, I've learned quite a bit about this part of the brain which deals with all types of sounds. Thus, it plays a huge role in our ability to listen to music and speech (as I found out previously, these two are interrelated) and gives us a sense of rhythm.
Also, there is a part of the auditory cortex, called Wernicke's area, that is involved in even processing WRITTEN language. Actually, this is the subelement of the auditory cortex that allows us to understand language. The orientation of Wernicke's area, depending on whether it is on the left or right hemisphere of the brain, also makes us right or left handed!
Interestingly, the neurons, or nerve cells, in this area of the brain are arranged in a specific manner. Certain nerve cells only respond when a particular signal arrives from the ears, corresponding to a specific frequency. That is really cool, because that means that different neurons activate when I hear different sounds. It's quite similar to what goes on in the ear, actually! If you lose part of your auditory cortex, then it just means you've lost the ability to listen to a particular range of pitches.
The primary auditory cortex is responsible for handling simpler elements in sound, such as pitch. The secondary auditory cortex, which I might cover later, handles complex rhythmic patterns and gives us the ability to enjoy music.
This was an interesting day investigating the first step in how our brains perceive music. It is really much more complex than I ever thought, and it is even related to our ability to use written language! Who knew?!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Third Day: Tonal Languages and the Library
Today is the third to we have had to work on this project. From now on, I shall be devoting time outside of class to researching music's effects on the brain, such as doing some supplementary reading.
That said, a Scientific American article titled "Music and the Brain" from September 2004 piqued my attention. Along with other reading I have done so far, I have discovered that the brain processes speech and music in the same centers, meaning our minds deal with these two things in similar ways. In a sense, speech and music are the same to us. This discovery has led to new perspectives on how we perceive languages and music because of their similarities. Some languages, like European languages, rely on the meaning of words. Others, especially the East Asian languages like Chinese and Korean, heavily depend on tone to get the meaning across. As a Chinese speaker myself, I use four distinct tones while speaking. A specific sound in Chinese will have four tones that accompany it, meaning one sound (perhaps one combination of letters that represents a word in English) may actually have four meanings, or even more. Thus, such languages almost bridge the gap between music and language, further blurring the line that separates these two. The same Scientific American article also mentioned the properties of religious chanting and the cries of street vendors: both are tonal in nature, yet carry the meaning associated with a developed language. Just another thing to consider when one thinks about what exactly music is, as opposed to language. Increasingly, I am believing that these two are one and the same, based on evidence from the article that says humans have been innately connected to music for millenia.
That said, it is my ongoing task to investigate how music influences our language and music perception centers of the brain. I have seen a promising book at the Lake Oswego Public Library titled The Power of Music : Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song, by Elena Mannes. I will place this book on hold and read it at a later date, which will possibly give me a new perspective on how music influences us.
For the time being, that is all for now. I have unearthed other resources on the Internet and at the library, and this weekend I shall read more deeply into them, thereby allowing me to focus my research a little more.
That said, a Scientific American article titled "Music and the Brain" from September 2004 piqued my attention. Along with other reading I have done so far, I have discovered that the brain processes speech and music in the same centers, meaning our minds deal with these two things in similar ways. In a sense, speech and music are the same to us. This discovery has led to new perspectives on how we perceive languages and music because of their similarities. Some languages, like European languages, rely on the meaning of words. Others, especially the East Asian languages like Chinese and Korean, heavily depend on tone to get the meaning across. As a Chinese speaker myself, I use four distinct tones while speaking. A specific sound in Chinese will have four tones that accompany it, meaning one sound (perhaps one combination of letters that represents a word in English) may actually have four meanings, or even more. Thus, such languages almost bridge the gap between music and language, further blurring the line that separates these two. The same Scientific American article also mentioned the properties of religious chanting and the cries of street vendors: both are tonal in nature, yet carry the meaning associated with a developed language. Just another thing to consider when one thinks about what exactly music is, as opposed to language. Increasingly, I am believing that these two are one and the same, based on evidence from the article that says humans have been innately connected to music for millenia.
That said, it is my ongoing task to investigate how music influences our language and music perception centers of the brain. I have seen a promising book at the Lake Oswego Public Library titled The Power of Music : Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song, by Elena Mannes. I will place this book on hold and read it at a later date, which will possibly give me a new perspective on how music influences us.
For the time being, that is all for now. I have unearthed other resources on the Internet and at the library, and this weekend I shall read more deeply into them, thereby allowing me to focus my research a little more.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Second Day, and a Good Start
Today is the second Google day at band. It is an opportunity for me to get started on my research concerning music and the brain. I have decided to investigate how exactly music affects brain function.
I have also taken the opportunity to set some concrete goals and expectations for myself. I will be able to put time into this project outside of school. It will certainly be a welcome break from all the other schoolwork.
So far, I have read some scientific studies by Scientific American and the federal government. For example, I read a July 2010 article by the aforementioned magazine on the connections between music and language. The effects of language have been studied extensively, but music has not been investigated as thoroughly. With the realization that music and language are processed similarly in the same areas of the brain, it leads to the possibility of researching music's effects on our brains through an entirely new perspective. This article can be found at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=speaking-in-tones-jul10.
More posts are coming soon, as I discover new ways of looking at music. I have always played music, but never looked at it in the scientific perspective that I scrutinize the rest of the world with. Seeing as it is only the second day, upcoming discoveries are sure to be interesting and very surprising!
I have also taken the opportunity to set some concrete goals and expectations for myself. I will be able to put time into this project outside of school. It will certainly be a welcome break from all the other schoolwork.
So far, I have read some scientific studies by Scientific American and the federal government. For example, I read a July 2010 article by the aforementioned magazine on the connections between music and language. The effects of language have been studied extensively, but music has not been investigated as thoroughly. With the realization that music and language are processed similarly in the same areas of the brain, it leads to the possibility of researching music's effects on our brains through an entirely new perspective. This article can be found at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=speaking-in-tones-jul10.
More posts are coming soon, as I discover new ways of looking at music. I have always played music, but never looked at it in the scientific perspective that I scrutinize the rest of the world with. Seeing as it is only the second day, upcoming discoveries are sure to be interesting and very surprising!
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